FIFA under investigation
Prime Minister of Slovakia has brought match-fixing accusation against Italy and Germany in the underway Euro-U21 Championship. In a letter written to the UEFA President, he has demanded a fair investigation into the match played between the world’s two leading football nations. Germany lost to Italy 0-1 to eliminate Slovakia from the competition.
The Prime Minister in his letter referred to the Austria’s 0-1 loss to Germany in the 1982 World Cup Football. Austria’s surrender sent Algeria packing from the competition and revived Germany’s hope to survive. The PM said also that hosts Argentina lost to neighbouring Peru 0-6 to stop Brazil from entering the 1978 World Cup Football final. The result carried Argentina to final where they beat Holland 3-1 to win the world title for the first time. The 6-0 victory perished Brazil’s five goals advantage. According to the media report, the Argentine goalkeeper was born in Peru.
In this connection, may we draw the attention of the AFC and the FIFA to the World Cup Football 1982 Asia zone qualification match played between hosts Saudi Arabia and New Zealand. The visitors won 6-0 to stop China’s advancement in the final round of the competition held in Spain. Interestingly, Saudi Arabia drew 2-2 with New Zealand at Auckland.
The painful event was that the FIFA never investigated the scandals and that is why the whole body is now under investigation. As such, we request the FIFA to hold separate inquiries into the three fixed matches and the like of the World Cup Football and one of the Euro-U 21 Championship.
Peter Rozario
Dhaka
